The Texas governor’s pardon of a former Army sergeant who fatally shot a Black Lives Matter demonstrator undermines the state’s legal system and constitution and should be reversed, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza said he is filing request with the Court of Criminal Appeals — the state’s highest criminal court — to review the pardon issued by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, which he said made a mockery of the legal system and put politics ahead of justice.
“We will continue to use the legal process to seek justice,” Garza said during a news conference in Austin.
Daniel Perry shot and killed Garrett Foster during a protest in downtown Austin in July 2020. Perry was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison in May 2023, prompting immediate calls for a pardon from conservative figures. Abbott issued the pardon last month and Perry was quickly released from prison.
That may be, but court rules and procedure and law dictate where actions like that need to be filed.